movies – Page 8 – understand-culture

Twelve Angry Men

Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose: This classic play (and its film adaptation) focuses on a jury deliberating the fate of a young defendant. The jurors must sift through the facts of the case and the credibility of witness statements, debating until they reach a unanimous verdict. The story is a direct metaphor for the American conflict resolution style: careful, collective weighing of evidence and testimony before rendering judgment.

Comments:

“I love this movie. No explosions, no gun or fist fights, just human emotions and drama. And some of the finest actors in the business!”

“I love how humane the characters are. We don’t even know their names! They just all constantly give us the various aspects of ourselves, as a species.”

“Cobb’s reaction at the end is beyond powerful. He rips up the picture and then reacts in horror, as though it’s something he can’t undo. That is to say that symbolically, the ripping up of the picture really does mean the end of his relationship with his son, with no possibility of repairing that fracture. In much the same way condemning the boy on trial to death is irreparable.”

“My very favorite part of the movie is when the guy says, “I’ll kill him I’ll kill him!” then he responds, ‘You don’t really mean you’ll kill me do you?'”

“I always wished that we could see the look on the defendant’s face when he heard “not guilty”. He looked so hopeless at the beginning.”

investigation and mediation

German movies stand in contrast to the more adversarial and theatrical style of American legal dramas, instead illustrating the German cultural and procedural logic of managing conflict by minimizing direct confrontation and focusing on thorough, impartial investigation and mediation.

Baader Meinhof

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex. (The Baader Meinhof Complex, 2008). This film examines the rise of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a left-wing terrorist group in 1970s Germany. Through investigative sequences, archival materials, and a focus on the motivations and societal conditions that led to radicalization, the film reconstructs the circumstances behind the violence. It provides a multi-faceted, evidence-driven exploration of why such a movement emerged.

“rubble film”

Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers Are Among Us, 1946). This is one of the first German films made after WWII and a classic of the “rubble film” (Trümmerfilm) genre. Set in the ruins of Berlin, it follows a traumatized doctor who discovers that a former Nazi officer responsible for atrocities is living unpunished among the survivors. The film centers on the protagonist’s moral and psychological investigation into the past, piecing together evidence and memories to confront personal and collective guilt. It dramatizes the process of uncovering the truth about wartime crimes and seeking accountability, embodying the German approach of reconstructing causes and circumstances

Luftwaffe officer

Ihr Urteil (Terror, 2016). This courtroom drama, adapted from a stage play, explores the trial of a Luftwaffe officer. While the film includes a trial, it is notably less theatrical and more procedural than American counterparts, emphasizing legal process over direct emotional confrontation.

Das letzte Schweigen

Das letzte Schweigen (The Silence, 2010). A crime thriller where a girl’s disappearance echoes a decades-old unsolved murder. The film follows detectives as they meticulously gather evidence, revisit past testimonies, and reconstruct the sequence of events. The narrative is structured around the gradual revelation of facts, mirroring the German logic of resolving conflict through objective investigation and analysis.

Namibia

Der vermessene Mensch (Measures of Men, 2023). This recent film confronts Germany’s colonial past and the genocide of the Herero and Nama in Namibia. It reconstructs historical events through the lens of a German ethnologist, using documentary evidence and personal testimony to explore the causes and consequences of colonial violence. The film’s structure emphasizes the importance of historical documentation and objective analysis in understanding and reconciling with the past.

Serviceability is reliability

Reliability in the U.S. also means serviceability. No product is perfect. Service can make up for it. And service is based on a product’s serviceability. After sales comes service. Should be fast, easy and profitable.

From Ford’s Model T which came with a tool box, all the way to today’s call centers responding 24/7 via 1-800 numbers, to the service trucks on the road, Americans tolerate suboptimal reliability if their concerns are listened to and acted upon.

But wait. Earning profits on a product’s imperfection? The German engineer winces at this. Products should work as developed. The German consumer winces at this. Products should work as promised.